Big Brother
by The Dark Crimson Blood
Summary: At one point Luffy would have gladly considered Ace to be his brother; but now it's become a term he can't use anymore. Oneshot with the possibility of becoming a twoshot.


**Story Title**: Big Brother  
**Author**: _The Dark Crimson Blood_  
**Genres**: Angst, Family  
**A/N**: Check out 'The World Today' if you liked this...  
**Words**: 1,744  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Characters, the Anime, or the Manga. Just this story and the idea…**  
Summary**: At one point Luffy would have gladly considered Ace to be his brother; but now it's become a term he can't use anymore.

* * *

**Big Brother**

Luffy was only two when he was brought into Ace's family; a family that consisted of a beautiful and loving mother, a humorous and laid back father, and an older brother. The aforementioned brother was older than Luffy by five years. Luffy, though only two years old, feels like he doesn't belong in such a happy and loving family. It's because of this, two year old Luffy feels unwelcomed.

Ace doesn't like him.

He's annoying and he cries, a lot.

Though despite their age differences, it's after three months of living together that Ace finally opens up to Luffy; a young child who cannot even be considered a toddler yet. It's _only_ because the child comes to him with big wide eyes, the biggest smile he's ever seen, and small tiny hands that reach out to him.

They reached out to him, not to his mother or to his father, but towards him!

The child asks, "Hey, Au, will you be Wuffy's friend?"

"Sure kid," he replies but it's more of a dismissal than anything. It's not like Luffy would notice anyway.

"Weally?" The child asks excitedly, "Ya know, Au is Wuffy's favorite!"

It's sentence full of mispronunciation yet somehow, it makes feel as if he's important person on earth.

Luffy has made his first friend.

Sooner or later, time passes and before either of them know it; Luffy turns five and Ace turns ten.

All of a sudden, the empty house they used to sneak into and play around without getting caught is sold to a wealthy family with two children, one around Luffy's age and another closer to Ace's. Their names are Sabo and Stelly. Sabo has short and extremely curly blond hair and doesn't look anything like his parents despite not being adopted; whereas Stelly is adopted and somehow looks a lot more like them.

Luffy doesn't like Stelly, he's spoiled and stuck up. Not even Sabo likes Stelly, which confuses Luffy because; well, aren't brothers supposed to like each other? He likes Ace, and Ace likes him- right?

Sabo and Ace become best friends; both being alike personality-wise and because of that they click together perfectly. It doesn't take long for Ace to trust Sabo enough to bring Luffy over with him.

Though after this, it's quite obvious that Ace still holds his younger brother higher than anyone else; this is because he always brings Luffy with him no matter where they go, or what they do. Ace is- no, Ace _was_ one hundred and ten percent sure that nothing would happen if he kept this up.

He was proven wrong when Luffy falls out of a tree the very next day. They had been climbing together, seeing who could reach the top first and Ace had thought the five year old child wouldn't be able to climb as high or as fast as he did, so Ace takes his eyes off Luffy for a mere minute only to return his protective gaze towards him and see Luffy bleeding profusely from a new wound that had formed underneath his left eye.

It's obvious it will scar.

His leg is twisted and bent in a weird angle, and there's blood coming down from his forehead.

Ace doesn't know what to do.

So after recklessly jumping down from the tree he panics; trying to figure out what he should do and if he should get help or not. Ace is too scared and worried for his little brother to even speak full and correct sentences.

It takes three minutes to decide that Ace would stay by Luffy's side while Sabo gets his mother, and before Ace knows what's happening; Ace's father is carefully picking Luffy up and taking him to the car.

Ace can only watch in despair.

He waits outside with Sabo for Luffy to come back, and when he does there's a thick bandage underneath his left eye, his right leg is in a cast, and there are bandages wrapped around his head.

To add to Ace's misfortune, he's grounded for a month and from there he thinks, 'It can only get better'.

It doesn't.

The grounding ends the very next month, and even though Ace doesn't know it; he slowly begins separating himself from Luffy. Perhaps it's the unconscious fear of him getting hurt again that forces Ace to stop including Luffy whatever game he happens to be playing at the time, or leave him behind in favor of playing with Sabo alone. It's as if he's treating his relationship with Luffy as an unwanted job or a task that no one wants to do.

Luffy notices.

"Ne Ace, have you changed?"

Yet no matter what Luffy does, he always gets the same reply.

"I haven't changed."

He's only five years old; he's completely oblivious to the world at this age so how could he ever tell if Ace was lying or not? Luffy is too blinded by trust to believe anything otherwise, so he simply agrees with Ace and wonders why he would ask Ace such a question in the first place.

It takes a year for Ace to stop avoiding Luffy so much, but it's different. It's as if they haven't talked for years and years on end, and they know nothing about each other; but neither one says anything and the game or ignorance is continued for just a while longer.

Luffy can only keep looking up to Ace as if nothing is wrong and as if nothing has changed; because Ace is his big brother! Big brothers are supposed to be cool and awesome like Ace, and Luffy will continue to proudly present Ace as his only older brother for as long as he can.

It's getting harder to do.

-  
Gol D. Roger dies three years later, and everything goes to hell after that. An unknown disease that can't be treated takes his life, and after he dies; Ace and Luffy both know that things will never be the same again. For awhile, it's as if the importance of Luffy's existence had disappeared to Ace and he becomes more temperamental. Ace starts to spend even more of his time with Sabo instead of Luffy, and Luffy notices.

At the same time, Ace spends a lot more time with his mother.

Rouge and Ace become each other's pillars of support, and Luffy's left somewhat confused as a feeling he can't really describe runs through his chest.

He's never learnt what it meant for a person to die;

So he asks Ace, "So, Dad's not coming back?"

Ace gives him the harshest glare he can manage before pushing the child to the ground.

"What was that for?" Luffy asks angrily, "I have a right to know, you shouldn't keeps secrets! He's my dad too!"

Ace growls, and pulls Luffy up with the collar of his shirt and harshly punches him in the jaw. "He's dead, you fucking idiot!" Ace yells, "Dead as in his body is rotting six feet under the earth in a cemetery, just the same as your father!"

Luffy freezes, big fat tears leaking down his face as his bottom lip begins to quiver. He doesn't quite understand, what Ace is saying but what the does know is that Roger is not coming back.

"That's right, you're fucking adopted; which means not only is he not your actual father, Rouge isn't your mother, and I'm not your goddamn brother!"

Ace goes silent and his eyes widen at his mistake; but he lets out a sigh of relief at Luffy's reply.

"I know."

"Good." Ace replies, knocking Luffy out of the way and leaving.

Luffy curls his legs into his chest and wraps his arms around them, tears leaking out of his eyes faster than he can stop them.

He didn't know.

For the next month Luffy moves on autopilot. It starts with locking himself in his bedroom for a week, with absolutely no contact to the outside world. This is how he processes the information and realizes that he's an outsider; that he doesn't belong, and that he's unwanted.

When he finally leaves his room, there are bags underneath his eyes, he's skinnier than usual, and he's not eating as much.

Luffy feels lonely.

It's after another two months that Luffy finally approaches Ace again, and he tugs on his sleeve while looking up at him. Sabo's right next to Ace, he's putting his shoes on because they're leaving- again.

"What?" Ace asks somewhat annoyed.

"Hey… I'm lonely."

Ace freezes in his movement just as Sabo stands up, already sending him a slightly curious yet worried glance as he does.

"We could stay and play with Luffy today…" Sabo offers- and he can't help but notice the hope in Luffy's eyes. Sabo feels like he should stay, because he remembers all of the times he's rejected the child for Ace.

Truth be told, Luffy was like Sabo's little brother.

A brother that Sabo actually liked, anyway…

"He probably doesn't even know what that word means," Ace scoffs; pulling his arm away. Luffy's arm falls back to his side lifelessly. "Let's go."

They leave wordlessly, leaving Luffy alone once again.

It's on that very night at ten pm that Luffy puts the last bottle of water in his bag. There are five water bottles, packages of dry food, a blanket, and a change of clothing in his bag. He picks it up, slings the bag across his shoulder and leaves.

A note is left behind.

He doesn't plan on coming back.


End file.
